2008 Woodie Awards
Baseball to Investigate Steroids
America's pastime put under national microscope once again
Dakota Rubin
Issue date: 4/4/06 Section: Sports
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After Sports Illustrated Magazine ran an article with an excerpt from the book there were outcries for an investigation and a cleansing of the game by the media and fans alike. They wanted to know that the game they love so much, the American pastime, has not been tarnished.
The league responded by contracting former U.S. Senate majority leader George Mitchell to lead an investigation of players, most prominently Bonds, and their alleged use of steroids. The players will continue to play for their respective teams during the investigations, but it could have a major effect on the players, the fans, and the game of baseball.
"The goal here is to determine facts, not engage in supposition, speculation, rumor or innuendo," said Bud Selig, Major League Baseball commissioner.
It is unclear how many years the investigation will encompass, but some reports say that Mitchell's investigation will extend as far back as 1989, the year when steroids were first made illegal in the United States.
What will an investigation yield? How can anything be proved? During the writing of Game of Shadows, Wada and Williams reportedly read more than a thousand pages of documents and conducted more than 200 interviews, so the information in the book seems to be very credible.
But what type of punishment will be levied on the players? Will they get suspended? Or can the investigation dig up enough dirt to charge players that pleaded not guilty in front of a Grand Jury with perjury?
The investigation must be conducted very carefully because baseball is in a volatile state and cannot afford to have the game tarnished more then it already is. The role of mediator for the investigation falls in the lap of Selig, whose job it will be to clean up whatever mess Mitchell digs up.
In baseball, a game of statistics, the most respected record, Hank Aaron's 755 home runs, is in jeopardy. As Bonds, who currently has 708 home runs, approaches the previously untouchable record how will the league and fans react?
Some analysts believe that the commissioner will suspend Bonds before he gets to Aaron's record. In order to do that he will need to investigation to reveal enough incriminating information to give him probably cause.